The Schizophrenic's Daughter II
by VT Arkens
Summary: It was the moment Doug dreamed of for thirty-two years. After being freed from Aperture, he tries to re-build his life on the surface. But there's one thing missing: the daughter who's been transfered into an AI. And now, he's on a quest to keep her safe.
1. Chapter 1: Escape

**So, this is the sequel to _The Schizophrenic's Daughter_, as you may have figured out. It takes place directly after _Dampening Stephen II_. Have fun!**

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><p>The entire world was like a dream. Everything was just as he remembered it. The way the sun reflected off the grass, the color of the clear blue sky, just the same as his eyes.<p>

_The same as hers..._

He had to shield himself at first, for the thirty-two years of captivity had deprived him of any natural light. He'd scurried into the shadows to allow him vision of the world he'd been torn from all those years ago. He did not tell his saviour of their relation, that she had the same eyes as his late uncle, though he briefly mentioned her mother. He left her with the man she loved, with her family. And he left with what was left of his.

No one had questioned how the companion cube had exited through the emancipation grill. There were matters much more important that that to be worried about. But he knew why. He knew it well.

It was because Aperture's Artificial Intelligence was permitted to.

Once they were safely out of hearing range, Doug became aware of a partially-mechanical voice. A very real voice, unlike one of the voices that haunted him in his mind. "You did it. You actually did it." He looked at the companion cube strapped to his back and smiled despite the pain in his heart.

This was not a normal companion cube. It was not an inanimate object brought to life by his condition. B was real. She was an AI prototype- the first to ever function correctly- Destroyed by GLaDOS and put into the cube by Doug to hide her survival.

She was also his daughter.

She'd no memory of her human life. She didn't know that the reason she'd decided on being called B was based off of her former identity, back when she was known as Breanna. Breanna Rattmann.

He couldn't remind her of the days they spent together, but he himself could never forget. If he were to tell her, it would greatly risk her life. So he lived with what remained of his darling girl.

"It w- wasn't just m- me." He stuttered. "I'd have d- died without you."

B issued a noise that resembled a sound of modesty. "What are you going to do now? I can't help you out here. Where will you go? It's been almost forty years. You don't know how much things have changed."

Doug shook his head. "I d- don't know. And to be honest, I d- don't c- care. Just so long as we n- never see that p- place again." He pushed a piece of hair out of his face. "Is something w- wrong?" He asked when B stayed silent.

She hesitated for a moment. "I'm scared. I don't know what it's like out here. Neither do you, not really. It's so different than Aperture already, and we're only about a mile away. And... I feel like I've seen this place before. But I guess that sounds dumb."

Doug felt a tug at his heart. He wanted- no, he _needed_ to tell her that she _had_ been to this hillside, that all the flashes of memory _did_ have meaning, that the holes _weren't_ from a hard drive wipe. He needed to tell her that he loved her, that she was, and always would be, his Breanna.

Breanna. The only thing he'd lived for after the death of the woman he'd loved his entire life. The girl of fifteen with his obsidian hair and stunning blue eyes. And her face the same as her mother's, the only discrepancy being the dark circles of an insomniac below her eyes. Doug knew he would never see any of those again.

But in a way, her transformation had been a good thing. Were it not for the technology, his daughter would truly be gone, without the ability for him to hear her voice. When it had first happened, he'd blamed his late uncle for taking her away early. Now, though, he was glad the decision had been made. After all, it was what she'd wanted. He looked up at the sky and smiled. _Thank you, Uncle Johnson._

Eventually, he knew he had to respond. "Not at a- all. You c- could have seen a p- picture or someth- thing."

"Yeah... Where are we going, anyway?" She asked.

Doug smiled. "M- my homet- town. It's not f- far." He was taking a risk bringing her back to the place of her childhood. The imaginary voice of Cave Johnson repeated their last conversation in perfect clarity.

_Doug, if you ever happen to come across her again, there are two things you can never do. One: Never say a paradox. Two: Never try to remind her of her life before. It'll confuse her, fry her circuits. It would be the equivalent of having a fatal stroke..._

But, over the years, she _had_ remembered. Small details, too discreet to make anything out of. A drawing, a face, a Swedish phrase, all important, yet not enough.

The sun was descending, and Doug hated to see it go, but with the sun gone, the stars would blanket the world in their shimmering light. He'd gotten a glimpse of the moon once, ten years ago, when Wheatley had taken over the facility, and he'd been sure it was the last time. But now, it was coming to greet him again. Now and every night from then on.

He felt the thirty-two-year-old paper in his lab coat pocket. After all the taunts, all the voices, he would finally be rid of it all. He would once again be able to at least pretend he had some sanity left.

He wanted to go on forever, never stopping until he saw a familiar landmark, but he had to rest his bad leg- The one which had gotten shot by a turret many, many years ago. He didn't sit. That would take him longer to get on his way afterwards. He set B down and leaned on her, keeping the weight off his right side. B mentioned how strange the grass felt, and Doug smiled.

He remembered their little house- nothing great, just big enough for the two of them- when Breanna would play in the yard, giggling as the blades of grass tickled her face. And when she got older, she would play the piano in the living room, singing to him in that beautiful alto voice of hers. He couldn't help but shed a tear and give a slight grimace at the painful recollection.

"What's wrong?" He looked down at the construct that had once been his daughter. He wouldn't lie, but he wouldn't tell her the exact reason, either. "J- jut my old w- wound." He put his hand on his leg as if to prove a point. B looked at him- or rather he assumed she was looking, he couldn't tell- and muttered a sceptic "Alright, then..." It was obvious she'd seen right through him, but she knew better than to ask any more questions.

She knew this place. She knew the feeling of the wind, the grass, the_ freedom_. But she'd never left Aperture before; it was the place she'd been built and, until very recently, the place she would be destroyed for good. This new world was just another missing detail in her sorry, artificial life.

Doug stopped in his tracks. He saw pinpricks of light in the distance. Like hundreds of stars on the ground._ I... I'm home..._ He stared for a moment and fell to his knees. He cried, and for the first time, they were tears of joy.


	2. Chapter 2: Repayment

The clock tower, old and outdated now, showed the time as 11:30. Doug remembered bringing four-year-old Breanna to see the unveiling of it all those years ago. She'd loved that sort of thing. The streets were almost bare, the few people around giving the wild-looking man with a lab coat and a box on his back contemplating expressions. He navigated the town with ease, and was relieved to find that his old pharmacy was still open.

He sat B down in an alleyway next to his destination and covered her with his lab coat. "Make sure to stay s- silent. Only speak in and em- mergency."

"Got it. But I don't understand."

He'd forgotten she didn't know anything about the world she'd once belonged to. "As far as I know, p- people don't know about AI's y- yet out h- here. We have to keep you h- hidden just in c- case."

She agreed and watched him go. She missed being able to move on her own. She heard the voices and footsteps of people walking down the sidewalk, and somehow, it caused her pain. _Artificial Intelligence..._ She thought. _It's almost insulting if you think about it_. She wasn't like most others of her kind. She didn't hate humans or feel they were inferior. In fact, she was fascinated by them. If she had a choice of getting back in her old mechanical body and becoming human herself, there would be no hesitation. Flesh and blood beat steel and wires any day. It felt as if something wasn't right with her. If she didn't know better, she'd say she was a human torn away from her life and thrust into an AI.

But that was just silly.

Doug pulled open the door of the drugstore. His eyes scanned the aisles carefully, not used to being in a place he didn't recognise. He approached the pharmacy counter, and he noticed he felt almost scared to have a conversation with a stranger, no matter how brief. The man working had greying hair, and looked as if he would rather be anywhere else, particularly asleep.

Doug set the paper on the counter and kept his head down, too afraid to make eye contact. All this time, he'd been dreaming of the next time he'd be able to look someone in the eye, so why couldn't he actually do it now that he had the chance?

The man took one look at the paper and furrowed his brow. "You're a bit late on this, aren'tcha?"

"Y- yes." He tugged at his hair absentmindedly.

The man help the prescription close to his eyes. "Writing's faded. What's the last name?"

"R- Rattmann."

"Rattmann?" The man looked up. "Doug? Doug, is that you?" Their eyes met for the first time, the man immediately recognising the mismatched pupils. "How long's it been, thirty-two years?" Doug nodded in response, still unsure exactly who he was talking to. He looked to the name tag on the man's shirt and realized it was his old pharmacist, Mr. Atkins. "Where've you been all this time? How's Breanna? She's gotta be in her forties by now, huh?"

He didn't want to talk about Breanna, as not to begin crying, but he had to answer. His heart felt as if it were being torn in two as he spoke. "Breanna... d- died... when she was f- fifteen..."

Mr. Atkins obviously didn't expect the news. "I... I'm so sorry..."

_But isn't it better that way...?_

_She doesn't have to deal with the fact that her father is a madman..._

Doug tried to hide the terror his delusions brought him. "P- please. Z- ziaprazidone." He fought back the tears as he heard the pills being put into the bottle.

Mr. Atkins put his hand on Doug's shoulder. The instinct he'd gained from the years living in fear caused him to automatically flinch back, away from anything that might cause him harm. Mr. Atkins sighed. "Listen, Doug. I don't know what's happened to you, but it's no secret you're in a bad place." It's better than the place I was before. "I'll make a deal with you, Doug. If you get some help with whatever's wrong, I'll pay for your medication till you get back on your feet."

Doug nodded and thanked him. He hurried out to the alleyway, his mind flooded with thoughts of B missing from where he'd left her. But she was still there. She hid her previous thoughts from him and watched as he swallowed two pills. He strapped her to his back.

He only had one destination he could think of, and it frightened him to go there. He knocked on the door, hoping they still lived there, and that he wasn't home. When the elderly woman opened the door, Doug lost hope for a moment. It wasn't until she spoke that he knew he was in the right place. "Douglas?"

"Hello, M- Mrs. Dasley."

The woman smiled at him. "Douglas, after all this time! Come in, come in! Nathan is at work, he should be home any minute now." She led him into the living room and sat him down. "So, what brings you here?"

Doug looked at the photos hung on the walls of the young girl he knew had chocolate brown hair, despite most of them being in black and white. For a moment, he was afraid B would recognise them and the information be too much, but he promptly remembered that Breanna had never gotten to meet her mother. "I hate to ask any m- more of you than I already have," He tugged at his hair. "But I have nowhere to l- live. If I could s- stay here for a while, just until I get a j- job-"

He was cut off by Mrs. Dasley's finger being held to his lips. "Douglas Rattmann, you stay here as long as you want. My daughter loved you more than her own life. When she was with you, it was the happiest I'd ever seen her. And you helped give me my granddaughter. Giving you a roof over your head is the least I can do."


	3. Chapter 3: The Return

Doug was allowed to stay in the guest room. He placed B down by the bed, Mrs. Dasley asking no questions about the significance of the cube. "Now, there's a bathroom just through this door. Nathan and I have a private one downstairs, so this one will be all yours. And in the bottom drawer of the dresser, there's some of Nathan's old clothes. They might be a little big, but they'll have to do until we can get you some new ones. I was going to give them to Good Will, but I think you're the one who needs them right now." She smiled, and before leaving, said one more thing. "And Douglas,_ her_ old room is just down the hall. Feel free to go in whenever you want." He smiled and thanked her, though he knew that he probably wouldn't be going in that room. At least not today.

Doug went into the bathroom with a pair of jeans and a white polo shirt. He stripped himself of his lab coat and shirt. Did he really want to look in the mirror? It had been so long. How much had he changed? He finally gathered enough courage to steal a glance, and nearly screamed at the sight of the image staring back at him.

The man he saw was most certainly not the man who had entered Aperture thirty-two years ago. The years had taken their toll on him, leaving his jet-black hair stained with grey. His unnaturally pale skin was stretched over his ribs as a result of the span of malnutrition. The same could also be said for the rest of his frail, trembling body. And his _eyes_. His eyes, with the right pupil larger than the other, still radiated his loneliness, but a new aspect of fear and scarring memories now shot through the haunting irises.

Of all the things he'd seen in his life, this was one of the worst.

He'd just finished getting changed when he heard the commotion downstairs. Two voices, one quiet and persuasive, the other full of pure rage. He knew what that meant. Mrs. Dasley called for him to come down. He gave a nervous glance in B's direction and obeyed.

"I don't want him in my house!" Mr. Dasley was yelling, though his wife was right beside him. When he caught sight of Doug sheepishly coming down the stairs, he glared at him. "You. You killed my daughter."

"Nathan!"

"Please, Mr. Dasley-"

"I don't want to hear it!" The elderly man was obviously furious. "You put her in danger the moment you first spoke to her! You should be locked up in some psycho-ward, you insane piece of sh-"

"Nathan, stop it!" She put a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down.

Mr. Dasley shrugged it off aggressively. "No! Dammit, Lillian, this man is responsible for Cassandra's death! If he hadn't knocked her up, she'd still be here!"

The woman now had tears in her eyes. "That is no way to talk about the man who raised your granddaughter!"

"What does that matter? She's dead, too, remember! It's his fault they're both dead!" Doug stayed silent, his head bowed, as she argued, trying to make him see no one could have prevented either death. "Just get the hell out of my house!"

Doug finally managed to speak. "Mr. Dasley... I'm sorry... I loved Cassy. I loved her, and when they told me she was gone, I just..." He trailed off, but quickly picked up again. "And Breanna... she was sick, sir. There was nothing I could do..." Mrs. Dasley hugged him, and he kept from crying to keep the small scrap of dignity he had left.

Mr. Dasley watched them, disgusted, and left, his only form of a goodbye being "Dani was always the good daughter". Dani was Cassy's younger sister.

Two days later, B activated from sleep-mode, though she'd sent no signal to do so. It was a common occurrence. She tried to flip her optic view to get a look around the room, but felt a pang of worry when she realized she could not. "Doug?" She whispered his name, as not to be heard by anyone else.

The sound of water stopped in the bathroom, and the only friend she'd ever known stepped out, wiping the stray smears of grease and oil from his hands onto his lab coat. "Don't worry. We're the only ones here. Glad to see you're awake." He smiled. "I found some money while we were trapped in Aperture, so I decided to put it to good use."

She wasn't so sure she liked how vague he was being. "What do you mean, 'good use'?"

He picked her up and held her up to the mirror directly opposite the bed. "I made a trip to the hardware store." B looked and saw the companion cube she'd been a part of in pieces in the corner. She herself looked just as she had when she'd been built. She was speechless, only able to open and shut the metal plates in front of her bright blue optic. And she could move on her own for the first time in thirty years.

She'd always felt something toward Doug. Not love, nothing like love. Well, now that she thought about it, it_ was_ almost like love- More like she saw him as someone who would always take care of her. This wasn't the first time he'd repaired her. Why did he care so much for a lousy prototype? None of the other scientists ever did. They'd all been scared of her, expecting her to kill them all at any moment. It was irrational, of course. She didn't even have any weapons. But Doug was different. He'd trusted her, and, surprisingly enough, she trusted him, as well. Even if she was a robot, she was still a girl. He was like a father to her.

And a girl needs her father.


	4. Chapter 4: Painful Memories

It was exactly one week later that Doug returned to the empty house after a long day of job searching. There were barely any openings anywhere; only three places would even consider taking his application. He ran his fingers through his beard. _This could have something to do with it. _He looked at B, who was powered down at the moment, and decided that maybe, just maybe, he knew what would make him feel better.

He pushed open the door of the room down the hall. It had been kept the exact way she'd left it. On the wall, a framed diploma, stating her name. _Cassandra Dasley... _He thought of the name often, but thinking it while in this room- this room that still seemed to hold so much of her spirit- nearly killed him. He didn't want to touch anything, for he was afraid he would disrupt the peace the objects gave off. He simply looked at each hairpin, Post-It Note, and book exactly where it sat.

His eyes caught sight of a piece of paper taped to the headboard of her bed. _Could it be...? _He looked and felt his already broken heart being ripped apart again. A drawing of a bird, the pencil markings seriously faded. He'd drawn that bird. He drew it when they were eight years old as a present. Or maybe it had been more of a proclamation of love. Either way, she'd kept it. He placed a trembling hand on the graphite, a tear escaping from his eye. _Cassy... If you ever saw me like this... What would you think of me? _He shook his head and began walking toward downtown. He knew what he had to do. For Cassy's sake.

When he returned, he went straight into the bathroom. B watched curiously for a while._ Humans are so strange. She thought. Still, no matter how strange... _The sound of running water almost soothed her, though she couldn't figure out why. After all, water would prove fatal to her.

The door finally opened, and for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Doug's hair was not trimmed crudely with a discarded piece of sharp metal. It was now cut short, neat with the help of actual scissors. His beard was now nonexistent. "What do you think?"

B was about to say that he cleaned up well, but something stopped her- something that felt like a fiery bullet shooting through her body. It was painful- the worst pain she'd ever felt- but not entirely unpleasent. But it was still too much. Doug could only watch as her optic brightened more than he knew possible and sparks began to flash from her circuitry.

And then, the blue light flickered out.

_No... _He had no choice but to fall to his knees. She'd recognised him. That had to be it. She'd recognised him, and that was one too many memories for her to handle. And now she was gone. She was really gone_. No... No, not again! Breanna... Don't leave me again! _He couldn't look at the little metal body, so he turned his back to cry.

He'd never cried so hard in his life, perhaps even harder than when she'd died the first time. For her entire existence he'd depended on her to keep him alive. Now that she couldn't go on, how was he supposed to?

He wanted to end it all. Wouldn't it be better that way? He could just find a secluded little place and put an end to his misery. He had nothing left to live for, anyway. He let out an especially painful sob as the days he'd spent with his daughter rushed through his mind.

There was a short period of quiet between his surges of emotion, and for a moment, when he heard what he did, he was sure that it was just a result of his medication wearing off. "D- Daddy...?"

He turned, and was shocked to see the blue optic back online. Granted, it was only half as bright as it was supposed to be, but it was still on. And she'd said the one word he'd been longing to hear for decades. "Br- Breanna...?"

"Oh, Daddy, I'm sorry!"

He took her in his arms, the metal cool against his face. He kept his tears to a minimum to keep her safe. Though she could not shed any of her own, the mechanical sobs were very real. "Breanna... My Breanna..." He couldn't say her name enough. "After all these years..."

"I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm so sorry..."

He shushed her. "Breanna, _min kärlek_, it wasn't your fault."

"He's dead, Daddy. Uncle Johnson's dead..."

Doug wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "I know. But you're not. "

Breanna let out a little whimper of extreme emotional distress. "If I'd decided just a little sooner, maybe..."

Doug looked her in the eye. "Maybe what? Uncle Johnson would have been uploaded? Look what that thing did to Caroline. The result would have been the same. It's a glitch in the chassis or something. _Min kärlek_, you did nothing wrong."

She wanted more than anything to hold him, to cry on his shoulder as she'd done so many times before. "I've hurt you so much..."

He embraced her tighter. "It's okay. You came back to me, so it's okay."

Neither ever wanted to leave this moment. It was as if nothing else in the world existed but the two of them. Nothing else mattered. But there were still things that had to be cleared up. "What about Grandma and Grandpa?"

Doug shook his head. "They can't know. How would we explain it to them? Especially your grandfather. He can't stand me as it is." She made a small noise of understanding, and Doug whispered the words he'd longed to speak for so long. "I love you. Your mother would be _so _proud."

They stayed in that position for hours, silent in their thoughts, regrets, and love. They didn't hear the car door slam, or the footsteps up the stairs. They were only aware of the new presence when he spoke.

Nathan Dasley's voice was both angry and frightened at the same time. "W- what the hell is that thing?"


	5. Chapter 5: Breakdown

There was a long beat of silence. "I asked what the hell that thing is."

Doug looked at the man that was supposed to be his father-in-law. There was no use in lying. "Not a 'thing'. Mr. Dasley... This is Breanna."

The man considered the fact for a moment. "Is that what you're screwed up mind's convinced you? Breanna's dead!"

"I'm not." Her voice was quiet, regretful. "I'm alive, in one sense or another."

He looked at the construct, then to Doug, then back again. He'd lost all traces of anger. Astonishment was all that remained. "But, there was a funeral..."

Breanna, her optic still dim, explained. "It was a closed casket. There was no body in there. My body is in cryogenic storage."

This was news to Doug. "Wh- what?"

"It was for safety. In case anything ever went wrong."

Mr. Dasley was at a loss for words. He simply stared in disbelief until he decided what to do. He lunged at Doug and pinned him against the wall, gripping his collar. "Is this what you've been up to all this time? Are you happy now? Are you satisfied, you crazy son of a bitch?" He reached into Doug's pocket, pulled out the bottle of medication, and threw it to the ground. "'Breanna was sick' my ass! You're the one who's sick! I'll kill you right here! Look at what you've caused her! Confusion! Mutilation! And-"

"Grandpa, stop it!" All eyes went to Breanna now. It was obvious that she would have been crying of she could. "Please, Grandpa, it wasn't his fault! I really was sick, this was the only way I wouldn't die! It was my choice, Daddy didn't know until it was too late! Just please stop!"

He let go, and Doug fell to the ground, overwhelmed with emotion. He approached her carefully. "It's really you." Breanna nodded the best she could. "This... This is impossible. This can't happen."

Doug stood up from his heap. "It's not, and it has. That's where we've been for the past thirty-two years." He explained the whole story of their fight for survival in great detail, despite the terrifying memories it brought back. "But we're going to fix it. _I'm _going to fix it."

There were confused looks from all over the room. "What do you mean?" Breanna asked.

Doug looked at her, sadness in his eyes. "We're going to put you back."

They stood outside the entrance of the place Doug vowed he would never set foot in again. "Daddy, you don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do. I've lived without you for too long." Doug went to rub his beard before remembering that it wasn't there.

Breanna sighed. "_She's_probably furious. If she doesn't kill you, she'll at least try to keep you there. You've seen what she can do."

Of course, Doug had already thought this over many times. "Then I'm coming back with you in your body or not at all."

He knew the halls and secret passages. He knew the layout by heart. But he didn't know what GLaDOS would do to him. Navigation was easy. Predicting the unpredictable was the part that worried him.

They ran behind the walls for hours, having to stop once in a while to calm Doug down. If he wasn't careful, he would end up having a nervous breakdown. He didn't need that. Not now.

"Daddy, just get out of this place. Get out and never even think about this place again."

He turned Breanna to face him. "Then what? I would never be able to look at you again without knowing that I ran from the one thing that matters in my life."

"Then leave me here."

Her request stunned him. "Wh- what?"

He could tell she was being sincere. "Daddy, I've spent most of my life here, I'll survive. You can't take much more of this. Just go and forget all about me."

He held her to his chest tightly. "Never... say that... You don't know how much it hurt to be without you, even if it was for the best. I refuse to for any longer. Promise me you won't leave me again."

"Daddy..."

"Promise me."

"I... I promise."

Every inch of the facility seemed to call out to him, as if reminding him of the things he'd lost in that building. _Uncle Johnson, if you can hear me, help us. You got what you wanted. Caroline is in charge. She'll be alive for as long as Aperture exists. You don't need Breanna to be like this anymore. For all our sakes, just help us.  
><em>  
>Though she would never admit it, Breanna was scared. She'd been like this for so long. She'd remembered her life, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't recall what it felt like to walk, to breath, to do anything humans did. And what would she do if the one person who had stayed by her died or suffered for her benefit? Her father was a broken man, there was no question about that. But despite his fragility, he was insistent on risking everything for her. "How do you even know this is possible?" She asked.<p>

Doug continued running as he spoke. "I've done it before. That man who was with Chell when we escaped, he was a core at one point, a human before that. I transferred him so GLaDOS wouldn't kill him."

Confused, Breanna asked more questions. "But why? Why would she kill him?"

"Because he was Wheatley."

She knew Wheatley almost personally. When she'd been on the run from scientists intent on incinerating her, he'd allowed her to power down behind him to keep from overheating. To think he'd been as human as herself...

Doug stopped suddenly, interrupting all thoughts. Panels had moved themselves in front of his path, trapping father and daughter in a small box. "Did you honestly think I couldn't feel you back there?"

Doug just about lost his mind at the sound of the all too familiar voice. _GLaDOS_.

Her triumph cut through him like a knife. "I thought you were gone for good. Did you miss me so much you came back to me? You're too kind." There was a low, mechanical chuckle. "And _you_. I thought I'd killed you a long time ago."

This was the second time that a claw ripped Breanna from his protective arms. It brought her up, far out of his reach. "Daddy!" Her cry would stay in his mind for as long as he lived.

"Time out there, for a second." Everything froze. "'Daddy'? So I see you've remembered." The voice was cooler now, but still not exactly kind. "It's a frightening process, figuring out you had a life before this, isn't it. Breanna Rattmann. I never thought I'd see the day. Don't tell me you forgot about_ me_. After all the good times we had. After all, I killed the man responsible for you being like this."

"Caroline...?" Breanna was stunned. "Did you really? Did you really kill Uncle Johnson?"

"What? I meant Michael Anderson, the one who got you covered in the repulsion gel when you were a child." GLaDOS fell silent for a moment. When she resumed, there was pain in her voice. "I would _never_have hurt Ca- Mr. Johnson."

The girl had no idea of the fact that Cave Johnson and Caroline had been lovers, or the fact that together, the couple had created a child, a baby girl, that would later save them from Aperture Laboratories.

"Why did you come back? I could kill you both right now."

He could have gone into a long speech, including in it how his heart and been ripped to shreds, and how his life had no meaning without Breanna, but he kept it quick and simple. "I just want my daughter back."

"Oh, really? It's true that cryogenic storage has probably healed her body, but there's no guarantee. And even if it did, humans are fragile creatures; they die so easily. Trust me, I know. Is that really what you want? To let her live, only to have her die?"

His answer was simple. "I just want my daughter back."

"Mr. Johnson always spoke so highly of both of you." For the first time, Doug could have sworn he heard a trace of Caroline's voice in hers. Breanna gave a small yelp of surprise as the claw released her into her father's arms. "Stasis pod number two. Don't let anyone catch you. I can't protect you from this point on. Doug, you're technically my nephew. You helped her when she would have died otherwise. It's your turn to get something out of it. You saved my daughter, now go save your own." The panels moved back into their original positions. "But if someone finds you and turns you in to me, I _will_have to kill you."

Doug nodded. He figured it wouldn't be easy. "Thank you."

"Don't waste any more time. Go."

Was she really letting him go free? Or was it a trap? _Either way... _He began running, the rush of familiarity surging through him in a manner both thrilling and terrifying.

There was only one way to the Cryogenic Refrigeration Wing. "We c- can't go behind the walls anymore." He shook just a little.

"Daddy, you're stuttering..." Doug held Breanna close and whispered reassuring words to her before he opened the wall and bolted out.

It had been so long since he'd been in the hallways. He'd usually stayed hidden. He stopped to let a pair of employees pass in a nearby corridor. He didn't know that one typed a message into his datapad.

It was when they were about half-way there that the footsteps began coming. His heart stopped and he looked back to see four guards rushing toward him.

Of all the years he'd spent running, he'd never ran as fast as he did in that moment. He literally felt the rush of displaced air of a bullet as it flew past his ear. "Go left!" When Breanna yelled this, he went right, just as she'd hoped he would. The guards had focused on the left, giving Doug enough time to duck out of their sight.

His heart was still pounding when they reached the Cryogenic Refrigeration Wing. Breanna's optic flicked back and fourth as she recalled when her uncle showed her around before her transfer. Stasis Pod Two finally came into view. Doug peered in, and he felt the worst pain in his chest since the day he saw his daughter's lifeless body laying on the metal table that would be her death bed.

Her hair onyx hair no longer fell down past her shoulders, but was cut just below her chin. She was exactly the way he remembered her, except that her face was clear of the dark circles below her eyes. She finally got to catch up on her sleep. Doug put a hand on the glass and began sobbing. Breanna felt a jolt of emotion surge through her as she looked at her body. It was a strange feeling, looking at herself.

Without warning, the pod opened and some equipment came through the wall. "Do it now. Hurry." They could barely hear GLaDOS, her voice quiet. "Go. They're on their way."

Doug connected the wires to both Breannas, his hands shaking. He checked multiple times that it was all hooked up correctly, terrified that he would do something wrong. "What if it didn't heal me, Daddy? I'm fine with dying. But what about you? What'll you do if I die?"

He looked to the body, which was getting the peaceful rest it had been deprived of for the fifteen years of its life. "I don't know. Go insane? More than I already am. But that won't happen. We're going to live together as a family. Like we used to. Just like we did before any of this stupid scientific crap happened, do you hear me?"

There was banging at the door, and Doug's heart stopped. "Open up! This is security!"

Between the yelling and knocking from the exterior and Doug's screaming thoughts, the place was a lair of uncontrollable noise. "Quick! Deactivate!" Doug fiddled with the settings of the machine.

Breanna looked at him for a moment. "Daddy... I love you. I want you to know that." _Just in case I don't wake up.  
><em>  
>A tear fell from Doug's eye. "I love you,<em> min kärlek. <em>More than anything I've ever loved in my life. And I never want you to forget how much you mean to me. You are my life. I'll see you again soon."

Breanna's last words were said just before she powered down so he couldn't argue. "If I don't make it, I'll say hi to Mom and Uncle Johnson for you."

He hated to see the optic go dark. All he could do was stare. What _would _he do if she didn't make it? She was all he lived for. He brushed his hand against Breanna's face gently, her smooth skin still cold to the touch. "My little girl... You promised you won't leave me. Please keep that promise."

The banging and yelling was getting louder, and Doug pulled the switch. There were blinding flashes of light, which just added to the security's shouting. When it was over, he ran over to the stasis pod and looked in.

"We're going to give you one last warning! Come out now, or we will use force!"

He stared at the girl for what seemed like years to see her stir, and it soon dawned on him that he_ wouldn't _see her move or hear her speak ever again. He'd really killed her this time. "Breanna... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." He fell to his knees, sobbing, yet not looking away from the girl. His mind broke, the voices that had plagued him throughout the years flooding back in, overwhelming him, along with his cries and the calling.

And then, a pair of bright blue eyes opened for the first time in almost forty years.

* * *

><p><strong>I told myself this would be the last one, but I just couldn't do it! Watch for <em>The Schizophrenic's Daughter III<em>!**


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